Secret Service following up on Brant text

Frank MacEachern

Updated 10:47 pm, Monday, November 12, 2012

From left, Peter Brant, Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant II pose at the Winter Antiques Show opening night party in New York Jan. 20, 2011. Brant was named the seventh most influential person in the art world by Art & Auctions magazine in its annual Power 100 list. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg

Photo: Amanda Gordon, Bloomberg

From left, Peter Brant, Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant II pose...

From left, Michelle Harper, Peter Brant II and Harry Brant at the Greenwich Polo Club at Conyers Farm in September 2011.

From left, Michelle Harper, Peter Brant II and Harry Brant at the...

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 10: Peter Brant II and Yvette Prieto attend the Alexander Wang Spring 2012 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Pier 94 on September 10, 2011 in New York City.

Photo: Neilson Barnard, Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 10: Peter Brant II and Yvette Prieto...

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 24: Peter Brant Jr. (L) and Yvette Prieto attend the Metropolitan Opera's gala premiere of Rossini's "Le Comte Ory" at The Metropolitan Opera House on March 24, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Peter Brant Jr.;Yvette Prieto

The teenage son of a wealthy backcountry Greenwich resident and a supermodel mom has come to the attention of the Secret Service for joking in a text about killing President Barack Obama.

"We are aware of the tweet and we will take appropriate follow-up steps," Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan said Monday evening.

Donovan declined to elaborate on what those steps might be.

After the election, Peter Brant II posted a screen shot of his exchange with friend Andrew Warren to Instagram, a photo-sharing social network.

After Warren complained that they were poorer following Obama's re-election, Brant responded "I have a contingency plan. Kill Obama hahaha."

Donovan acknowledged that "everybody has a right to free speech," but underscored the responsibilities of the Secret Service.

"The Secret Service has a right and obligation to determine someone's intent," Donovan said.

In a statement emailed to Greenwich Time last week by public relations firm Rubenstein Associates, Brant said he and his wife, Stephanie Seymour, were "deeply troubled" by their son's behavior.

"Even though his intentions were in jest, he is responsible for his written words and should have been more careful about how his comments may have been construed," the elder Brant -- who owns newsprint and publishing companies, and is founder of the Greenwich Polo Club -- said in a statement. "The comments that were made are not politically or morally representative of our family or our values."

Brant said, "Each member of our entire family believes that Peter should have serious consequences for embarrassing himself and his family, and we plan on implementing these."

"We all love Peter very much and recognize who he is as an individual, but we won't tolerate this kind of behavior toward others," Brant said. "We hope that he learns from this serious mistake, matures, and goes on to make himself and his family proud."

A spokesman for Rubenstein Associates could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

Peter Brant II has since apologized for the statement, telling the website Fashionista he had "no intention of killing anyone."

"Obama is now our president and as such I support him. What Andrew and I said was stupid and I'm sorry to anyone we offended. This is a time when we need to be unified as a country and not let any petty stupid humor get in the way of that."